Monochrome and bold in Garden Court
Jasmine Williams has decorated her Philadelphia apartment almost entirely in black, white, and gray.
Bright red strawberries and orange carrot sticks on the kitchen cutting board and greenery in white sculptural vases on the white counter and black dining table add rare splashes of color to Jasmine Williams’ one-bedroom apartment.
Williams has lived in her mostly two-toned residence in Garden Court Towers, in the Garden Court neighborhood in West Philadelphia, for four years. She loves the “clean and classic” white of the apartment’s walls, chairs, rugs, ottomans, throw pillows, and other accessories.
Contrasting black furnishings include leather chairs in the entry hall, a round table, the bench and chairs in the dining area, and black cabinets in the bedroom, which flank a radiator whose cover she painted black. She also painted the wall dividing the entry hall and the living area black.
Recently, Williams’ niece, Aubrey Harris, painted the folding doors to the laundry black. The rest of the doors in the apartment are white.
Williams already had the essentials when she chose her dramatic decor. Her 1,000-square-foot apartment’s renovated kitchen had black cabinets with white countertops. There were white fixtures in the bathroom and powder room. The laminate floors resembled white oak.
Williams, 36, spent the first decade of her life in a home on Larchwood Avenue, just blocks from Garden Court Towers. Her family then moved to Berlin, N.J. She graduated from Eastern Regional High School in Voorhees.
During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, she lived with her grandmother, Dolores Cook, in Northeast Philadelphia and redecorated Cook’s home.
“From the time she was a little girl Jasmine always liked art and design,” her mother, Yvette Baker, boasted during a visit with her daughter.
Williams was a project manager for nonprofits before becoming an interior design consultant. She is also a disaster relief volunteer for the American Red Cross in Philadelphia.
After her grandmother’s death in December 2020, “the housing market was awful,” Williams said, so she looked for a place to rent. She visited Garden Court Towers and admired the 1929 Art Deco lobby with its canopied entrance, carved wood paneled foyer, tile walls and floor, and original brass U.S. Mail box.
The Art Deco geometric design of the hallway carpeting is similar to the gray-and-white pattern of the wallpaper Jasmine chose to hang behind her bed, which has a gray headboard. She hung gray wallpaper as an accent on two other walls.
The living room couch is gray, as is the herringbone-patterned kitchen backsplash.
Gray softens the bold black-and-white surroundings, as does the wood-toned Parsons table under the TV in the living room. Brass lamps in the bedroom and a gilt mirror in the dining area add sparkle.
The miniature antique radio on the Parsons table is actually a holder for wood coasters. Williams inherited the radio from her grandmother.
Abstract art in the apartment include two striking oil paintings from Amazon in the entry hall, depicting black figures on a white background.
Nearby hangs a painting of gray, beige, and black stripes and swirls on a white background. The work was more colorful when Williams purchased it from CB2, but she and her sister Melyssa Pollard brushed over the vibrant shades to produce a more muted palette.
Williams’ brother in law, Jay Pollard, and her father, Edward Williams, installed light fixtures and hung paintings in the apartment.
Her favorite shopping destinations are CB2 and Crate & Barrel, but she has also purchased items from Amazon, Pottery Barn, Wayfair, and other vendors. The cowhide rug under the dining table came from Burke Decor.
In the living room, a unique art installation of nine small domes in shades of black, brown, and gray are arranged on the white wall above a white clay bowl on a black pedestal. The glazed clay domes are the work of New Zealand ceramicist Sam Mayell.
Large windows fill the tenth-floor apartment with light.
In the bedroom, with its white and black furnishings, a window frames a view of Garden Court homes below with their snow-covered lawns and rooftops.
The winter-white scene was “keeping my theme going,” quipped Williams.
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